2nd Defendant Found Guilty of Killing Tourist : Trial: He and triggerman face life in prison after first-degree murder convictions for slaying near Idyllwild.

A second suspect was convicted of first-degree murder Wednesday in the shooting death of a German tourist near Idyllwild and, like the previously convicted triggerman, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Khamchan Bret Ketsouvannasane, 20--one of three Banning residents connected to the May 16, 1994, murder at the scenic highway viewpoint--was found guilty of robbing and murdering Gisela Pfleger, 62, and of the attempted murder of her husband, Klaus, during their vacation in Southern California.

Co-defendant Thongxay Nilakout, 18, was convicted Monday as the shooter. Ketsouvannasane was also found guilty of murder because complicity in a felony--robbery in this case--that leads to murder exposes accomplices to the same charges, said Riverside County Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Bentley.

The jury made a finding of special circumstances against Ketsouvannasane, which calls for life in prison without parole. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.

The two men were tried at the same time before two juries. A separate trial for the third defendant, Xou Yang, 20--who allegedly provided the .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun and drove the getaway car, and is believed by prosecutors to be the mastermind behind the robbery and slaying--is expected to begin next week.

Defense attorney Sanford Perliss acknowledged to the jury that his client planned to break into cars along Highway 243, between Banning and Idyllwild in the San Jacinto Mountains. But he contended that Ketsouvannasane “chickened out” of robbing the Pflegers at gunpoint.

However, Klaus Pfleger identified Ketsouvannasane in court as the man who first struggled with his wife as she was photographing spring flowers at a vista overlooking Hemet.

The husband was shot twice in the face and once in the back by Nilakout, who then walked to Gisela Pfleger and shot her twice in the head. Left for dead, Klaus Pfleger struggled to his car and drove for help.